Lenny Bernstein: Hero Not

Lenny Bernstein was many things -- driven, egotistical, often brilliant, often excessive and yes, flamboyant -- but a "gay hero?" That's how the Blade described him in an article about Equality Forum's monthlong tribute to gay icons.

I think it's great that gay pioneers like Frank Kameny and Barbara Gittings and some of the others are getting attention. But Bernstein? He was a closeted gay man who married and had sex with men on the side. If he did anything to stand up for the gay community or work for gay civil rights I've never heard of it.

Bernstein was a gifted artist and a legendary (in his own mind, for sure) leader of American music. He surely was not a leader in the gay community.

Maria: Bernstein and Carreras

This is a fascinating clip of Leonard Bernstein rehearsing Jose Carreras in the 1984 recording of West Side Story. As an amateur musician, it's interesting to watch the pettiness and egoism creep in while two masters struggle to get the performance perfect. Carreras is one of the "Three Tenors" and I always thought he was the best of the three, the least bloated musically and physically (and he is hot here in his five 0'clock shadow -- I seem to be developing a thing for the slightly unshaven). The one thing that drives me nuts, though, is Carreras' emphasis of the last syllable of "never," as in "nev-URR." Ugh.

This is a long clip, but worth watching to the end.